James Burke : Connections, Episode 4, "Faith In Numbers", 5 of 5 (CC)

Watch Entire Show: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0C43386079D8B683&playnext=1

More Shows: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JamesBurkeWeb&view=playlists

Episode 4 of James Burke's most well-known series "Connections" which explores the surprising and unexpected ways that our modern technological world came into existence. Each episode investigates the background of usually one particular modern invention and how it came into being. These explorations are an attempt to locate the "connections" between various historical figures who seemingly had nothing to do with each other in their own times, however once connected, these same figures combined to produce some of the most profound impacts on our modern day world; in a "1+1=3" type of way.

It is this type of investigation that is the main idea behind the Knowledge Web project; whereby sophisticated software is used to attempt to discover these subtle interconnections automatically. See http://k-web.org.

See channel page for purchase options.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• James
• Burke
• Connections
• Faith
• In
• Numbers
• Doppler
• Effect
• Fall
• Of
• Rome
• Taxes
• Cam
• Aquaduct
• JamesBurkeFan
• China
• Loom
• Spinning
• Wheel
• Linen
• Black
• Death
• Economy
• Punch
• Card
• Tabulator
• Water
• Clock
• Computer
• Venice
• Sensus

[ing420021]

it would be interesting to see the show in which "E. G. Marshal and his guests [try to] grapple" the issue of "what will [the computer] bring us?" and see if they got anything right, or if they imagined that by 2009 we would all be slaves to robots controlled by a single massive supercomputer or some other sci-fi fantasy or if they just said: "huramph; computers are useless and they won't get us anywhere..."

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Really eh! It never even occurred to me. That would be fun to watch.

Of course it's never fair to pick on people in the past (even if they're dead!). The future is way too unpredictable.

- JBW

[slack7639]

6:30 the corner of the card is cut - so you know it hasn't been accidentally flipped over, which would cause error in your tabulation?

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Yes I believe so. They probably won't fit, or slide down into the tabulator unless a certain corner is cut at a particular angle. You'll notice it's not a 45 degree cut meaning that there's only one orientation which will fit (you can't do flip and rotate by 270 because then the angle would be 60 instead of 30 say).

[tzone92]

I liked to learn something about the middle ages, in school all I ever heard about were the Black Plague, crusades, and that's all.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Yes, you should look more closely into these Cistercians and their movement. A lot more went on in the so-called middle and dark ages than people like to admit. But I guess you know about that by now.

- JBW

[Thornfox]

I love how around the 7:50 he talks about how the US would fall down without punch cards, only to reveal the World Trade Center. Oh, irony.

[AutodidacticPhd]

What really bakes my noodle is the fact that I've never programmed using cards, but took classes in computer science from guys who graduated in a world where computer science was just a division of the maths department and who did use punch cards for much of their professional lives... and yet, soon even those classroom stories will be gone and the only people who will hear about punch cards will be in the history department.

[thekaminante]

@Thornfox If you watch it from 7' 29 sounds like nostradarburkes? or Nostradarboos?

[StuInTokyo]

Wild, at 7:40 of this clip, holding up an computer punch card he says "Used to program the computers without whose help the entire massive structure of the modern world fall down" then he pulls the punch card down to reveal....... The twin towers of the World Trade Center......

[Lortagreb]

@germaninsanity You idiot of course I'm not 7 years old dumbass :D

[germaninsanity]

@Lortagreb Those were the World Trade Centers which were destroyed on September 11, 2001. What a terrifying day that was.

[6661313]

who watches part 5 of 5 and clicks disslike? lol thease shows are awesome i remember seeing them years ago

[victorialucas38]

The prediction of the collapse of American society followed by a shot of the twin towers has been pointed out on here by a few people, but it is genuinely strange - as was the story of the New York blackout in the first episode, concerning flight 911. Is James Burke's middle name Nostrodamus?

[terrybeaton]

As I understand it, IBM punch cards were used by the Nazis to tabulate the logistics and operations of the death camps. A technology IBM was only too happy (and apparently quite aware of the nature of it's use) to supply. That may have been a "connection" with a bit too much baggage to use on the show. I'm sure though, that he's aware of it.

[ChorltonBrook]

New York's skyline looks like any other city now.

[Lortagreb]

I'm only 7 years old and I've been to new york but I don't recognize the two skyscrapers at 7:50 can someone tell me what they are?